Page 31 of Great Falls Cadet
A wind-curled swirl of spray from the stream hits my face.Wind. Rain. Storm. It finally hits me then, the reason why the rain sent the shock of fear through me. Soon, maybe already, the tablet and my tracks—my only hopes of getting the males’ memories back—will be gone. Washed away.
“No,” I whisper. My halting breath and racing heart now have nothing to do with the chill. I struggle to my knees, my numb hands giving way, though Coal stops me from falling. Even as he does, I seek my landmarks. Plot my course.
“On your feet, Cadet.” Coal wraps his warm, muscled arm around me. “I will help you.”
No.I push away from him, landing myself right back in the stream.
Coal curses. Reaches for me again.
This time, I move with greater purpose, pulling myself to the other side of the water. “Don’t touch me.” I intend my words to sound strong, but they come out in a rough-edged croak. “Don’t. Touch. Me.”
A wolf calls again.
A flicker of something crosses Coal’s face, and he pulls his hands back slowly, showing me his empty palms. Even as he does, his gaze assesses me the way one might consider tackling a rabid dog. Another moment and Coal will do just that.
I can’t let that happen.
Scrambling to my feet, I break into a run, racing the coming storm back toward my nearly two-day-old tracks. My numb feet pound the soft ground, sliding on uneven earth and tripping over rocks. A harsh wind blows with enough force to make the fallen leaves and twigs rise into the air, hitting my face, the shock of it making me sway. Losing time I do not have.
“Leralynn, stop!” Coal’s bellow races up from behind, the voice so close that I can feel it. Then Coal is on me, tackling me to the ground, twisting my shoulders to force my gaze to meet his. Impatience, fury, and something more—fear. His chest heaves, pressing into mine, trapping me. “You are not thinking straight. Follow me.Now.”
“Let me go,” I holler at him, my voice rising with true fear. I can’t do this. Can’t pretend a day longer that I’m human, can’t face the males through the veil’s perverse looking glass. And each second Coal holds me, he further seals that horrid fate. “Let me go!”
Coal drags me to my feet, holding me roughly. “This isn’t a negotiation, Cadet. You want to stay at Great Falls, you take my damn hand and come.”
My mind goes silent, the ultimatum so clear that my response comes with no thought. I can’t outfight Coal. And I can’t let him slow me down a moment longer.
“I quit!” I shout into the male’s face, loud enough to be heard over the wind. “I’m done with your runs, your punishment, your half drowning me. I’m not an Academy student as of this moment, so get your damn hands off me. Now.”
Coal freezes, face pale. And then he does as I demanded. Icy air rushes in to take his place.
I run the instant he lets me go, before I can let loneliness rush in with the cold air, before I can second-guess myself. I sprint. My clumsy body focuses on nothing but the mountain slope, now hazy through wet, windy air. Droplets of rain bounce off leaves and pine needles, striking them like tiny never-ending drums. Branches bend in the wind to clash against their neighbors and hiss and snap their displeasure. Everywhere I look, the forest is different from the way it was, the trees bending and shifting through misty gray sheets of rain, clutches of dirt and spray flying through the air. The smell of wet earth and damp bark saturate the air so thickly, I scent nothing else.
Fat raindrops pelt my face, fueling each of my strides. Through it all, my gaze focuses on nothing but the lone set of tracks that is miraculously still there, winding through the trees. The slight change in the pattern Sprite’s one shoeless hoof left is no longer visible, but I know the tracks as mine and thank the stars that Coal’s bloody stream was not so far as to make me lose the sacred route.
Coal.I stumble as the image of him flashes in my mind, turning my stomach. Even when the reconnected rune restores the quints’ memories, I’m not sure I’ll ever look at him—at the male who wanted me gone—the same way again. An uncontrolled shudder races through my body, spreading panic. For a heartbeat, my face is beneath the surface again, freezing water rushing into my mouth and nose. Closing my lungs. Choking off my air. I gasp, my eyes wide and heart hammering my ribs.
I force a breath down my throat, fighting off the dizziness I’ve no time for. With the growing rain, there will soon be little left to follow on the steep sloped earth. Faster. I have to move faster, rush straight down the slope that I used switchbacks to climb. I do. I run, allowing no thoughts, no memories of Coal’s ice-filled eyes. No—
My boot lands on something soft, the steep ground suddenly slipping from under me.
I fall onto my side, the slope dragging me down with the mud. The breath I fought so hard to draw now grips my chest, gravity seizing me. Pulling me into a tumbling roll down the slope. Rocks scrape my skin, my numb fingers unable to grasp anything to stop the slide.
Down, down, down.
My side, my belly, my head, all take turns against the ground. I bounce off the first tree I hit, the second sending me on my way with a bruise. The third finally stops me, my back striking the trunk so hard that the world blinks. Lightning cracks the air just as my wits clear, thunder following a breath later. The rain pelting my face churns into a downpour, mud and earth running in streams down the slope, taking me with them when I dare try to rise.
This time, I ride the landslide on my back, the wind hiding my scream. I’m aware and yet can do nothing to halt the speeding motion, my hands and feet finding no purchase, for the side of the mountain is riding down right along with me. By the time we stop at the slope’s bottom, the rain is a thick curtain that lets me see nothing beyond my own fingertips.
Lighting cracks again, felling a large tree not twenty paces away. Felling the last of my hopes with it. I’ve lost the tracks. Lost my males. Lost myself. Forever.
Wrapping my arms around my knees, I cry, shaking as badly as the branches.
9
Coal
“Iquit,”Leralynn had shouted into his face, her voice conquering the wind to impale him. For a heartbeat, Coal had stood frozen. He’d gotten what he’d come out here for, and yet the victory felt so vile, he couldn’t force his body to move. So he didn’t. He stood there, holding on to Lera as if she’d not spoken, as if he’d misheard.
